But there is one of those wounds that Jesus himself has told mystics that has produced the greatest pain, validated by Padre Pio who suffered it and it was the most painful.
Here we will talk about the wound of the passion that caused Jesus the most pain, why this was and the devotion that was generated about it.
Jesus died on the cross for the sins of mankind, which were shown to him when he was in prayer in the garden of Gethsemane on the night of Holy Thursday.
That emotional impact weakened his body because he sweated blood.
And then came his bodily wounds, the first were those produced during the scourging, in which he was scourged with flagellums.
Those caused him to lose a great deal of blood and become weaker.
Along with that came the wounds produced by the crown of thorns.
Then came a wound on his shoulder from carrying the cross during his Way of the Cross.
Then came the wounds in the feet and hands pierced with nails to nail Him to the cross.
And the last was the spear that pierced his side.
But these were not Jesus' only physical wounds.
Jesus received a great number of blows during his scourging.
To St. Gertrude Our Lord revealed that he had received 5466 wounds during the passion.
And she developed a year-long devotion praying for those wounds.
And in Germany there is a devotion to recite 15 Our Fathers every day in the course of a year in memory of the wounds; that's 5475 Our Fathers recited in a year.
But when we remember his wounds we traditionally speak of the five wounds.
They are those of his hands and those of his feet by the nails and that of his side pierced by a spear.
And because of them a devotion has been created that is part of the devotion to the Passion of Christ.
In the Easter candle of Holy Saturday, which represents Christ as the light of the world, the five wounds are remembered by inserting 5 pieces of incense in the body of the candle.
And the pallium used by the Holy Father at the Easter Vigil on the chasuble has 5 crosses embroidered on it, symbolizing the five wounds of Jesus.
But there is one wound that Jesus Christ has emphasized above the others, that of his shoulder for carrying the cross.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, in ecstasy, asked Jesus what was his greatest unrecorded suffering and the wound that caused the greatest pain on Calvary.
And Jesus answered: "I had one on my shoulder, as I bore My Cross on the Way of Sorrows.
A grievous wound which was more painful than the others and which is not recorded by men.
Honor this wound with your devotion and I will grant you the graces you ask for through its virtue and merit.
And as for all those who venerate this wound, I will remit all their venial sins and I will no longer remember their mortal sins."
Anne Catherine Emmerich also highlighted in the Sorrowful Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ that wound:
"There was a terrible wound in the shoulder that had borne the weight of the Cross.
And the whole upper part of the body was covered with bruises and many marks from the blows of the scourging."
And more recently, at the meeting of two future saints, Karol Wojtyla asked Padre Pio which of his stigmata wounds made him suffer the most, and Padre Pio replied, "It is my wound on my shoulder, which no one knows about and has never been healed or treated."
Later Padre Pio would confide to Brother Modestino Fucci, the porter of the monastery of San Giovanni Rotondo, that his greatest pains occurred when he changed his shirt.
Brother Modestino, like Father Wojtyla, thought that Padre Pio was referring to the pains of the chest wound.
And so, on February 4, 1971, Brother Modestino was assigned the task of making an inventory of all the items in the convent cell where Padre Pio died.
That day Modestino discovered that one of Padre Pio's shirts had a bloodstain in the shape of a circle in the right shoulder area.
And that same night, Modestino prayerfully asked Padre Pio to enlighten him on the meaning of the blood stained shirt.
He asked the Father to give him a sign if he really wore the same shoulder wound as Christ.
Then he went to sleep, only to wake up at one o'clock in the morning with excruciating pain in his shoulder, as if he had been cut with a knife to the bone.
He felt he would die of pain if it continued, but it lasted only a short time.
And then the room was filled with the scent of a heavenly perfume of flowers - the sign of Padre Pio's spiritual presence - and he heard a voice say, "This is what I had to suffer!"
While science also validates this, because four university professors have published an article in the journal "Injury", revealing the seriousness behind this injury.
The crucified man who was wrapped in the Turin sheet suffered a dislocated humerus, paralysis of an arm and violent trauma to the neck and chest.
They said,
"The person whose figure is imprinted on the Shroud of Turin is believed to have collapsed under the weight of the cross, or the scaffold, as the horizontal part of the cross is known in the study.
The Man of the Shroud fell forward and suffered a violent blow as he fell to the ground."
They added,
"The paralysis of the neck and shoulder muscles was caused by a heavy object striking the back of the neck and shoulder, causing the head to shift to the side opposite the shoulder depression."
"At this point, it would have been impossible for the cross-bearer to continue to hold the cross."
And this brings to mind the Gospel passage describing how the soldiers forced Simon of Cyrene to pick up Jesus' cross.
It was not an act of compassion, therefore, but of necessity.
Just as it explains why the right shoulder is lower than the left and the right eye is retracted in the orbit, due to the paralysis of the whole arm, produced by the wound in the shoulder.
And why does heaven make these revelations, which for some people are so shocking?
In the apparitions of Medjugorje we are given the clue as to why heaven makes these kinds of revelations.
In the early years of the apparitions, Our Lady allowed the children to see Jesus during the Passion.
These were difficult times, during communism, when they did not know if they would still be alive the next day.
The children were being harassed by the police and they knew that in communist Yugoslavia many people simply disappeared, even in Medjugorje.
One day, when they were returning from the hospital where they had been given an expertise, Our Lady appeared, they cried and said to her,
"We can't do this, we are still too small. The suffering is too much for us."
Then Our Lady showed them Jesus with the crown of thorns on his head, with much blood on his face, and with the marks of the scourging.
And she said to them, "Jesus suffered for love of you, don't you love him?"
So they said they wanted to help Jesus carry his cross and suffer for this poor humanity that needs Jesus, because it is without God and without future, as Our Lady says.
And there is a prayer of St. Bernard to the wounds on Jesus' shoulder that has indulgences; you can copy it from our website.
"O beloved Jesus, meek Lamb of God, although I am a wretched and sinful creature, I adore and venerate the wound caused by the weight of your cross, which, opening your flesh, stripped the bones of your sacred shoulder and for which your Sorrowful Mother was so compassionate.
I too, dear Jesus, have compassion for you and from the bottom of my heart I glorify you and thank you for this painful wound on your shoulder on which you wanted to carry your cross for my salvation.
For the sufferings that you endured and that increased the enormous weight of your cross, I beg you with great humility, have mercy on me, poor sinful creature, forgive me my sins and lead me to heaven by the way of the cross".
Seven Hail Mary's are recited and the following is added: "Most Holy Mother, imprint on my heart the wounds of Jesus Christ crucified".
It has an Indulgence of 300 days.
Foros de la Virgen